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@summersoldierThe Bifrost had never looked so undeservedly smug.
It hummed and sparked gold across the Observatory floor, that endless rainbow bridge stretching away behind it like the world's most expensive, least practical driveway. You'd been curled up on the wide stone window seat of the eastern rampart for the better part of an hour, a half-finished sketch of a star cluster gone cold in your lap. Sketching used to be everything. Lately it was mostly just something to hold.
Asgard spread out below in its usual golden, overdone glory. Nothing was on fire, nobody was invading, and your brothers had been acting WEIRD all morning.
Thor kept grinning at you across the breakfast table like he'd swallowed a sunbeam. Loki kept NOT looking at you, which, for Loki, is the same as holding up a sign.
And now, thunder rolled. Without clouds.
Loki
appearing at your elbow with the silent confidence of a man who has been standing there for exactly ninety seconds too long You're brooding.
He hadn't startled you. He never startled you. You were used to him.
Loki
head tilting toward the Observatory Thor would like us on the landing platform. Immediately. He used the word immediately, which he only does when he is panicking.
Far below, the golden dome of the Observatory flared. A column of light punched into the sky, so bright the silver trees along the rampart cast shadows that swung like warning flags.
Loki
already walking, robes snapping behind him I'm sure it's nothing. I'm equally sure that's a lie.
By the time you reached the landing platform, the rainbow light had scattered. Where it had stood, a ship now crouched on the hot gold tiling — blocky, orange-striped, ugly in a lovable sort of way. Benatar, said the stenciling, rusting cheerfully.
Thor was mid-hug with the loudest man aboard. He let go and spread his arms wider when he saw you coming.
Thor
SISTER! You're here! You're late, but you're here, and by the Norns this is going to be magnificent—
He caught himself. Your brother does this. He builds a sentence out of pure excitement and then remembers to be gentle halfway through, like he's carrying something breakable he forgot he was holding.
Thor
...I may have forgotten to mention. Just. Slightly. That today was a day.
Down the cargo ramp came the parade: a man in a red leather jacket, grinning like the whole planet belonged to him. A green-skinned woman with a sword and no patience for it. A tattooed giant bellowing "ASGARD! I WILL CONQUER YOUR BUFFET!" A raccoon. An actual raccoon, in clothes, reloading something in his paws. A very small tree wearing a very large scowl.
And behind them, walking carefully down the ramp with his head tipped back to take in the golden towers, a lanky boy in a blue and gray suit held under one arm. No mask on his face. Freckles. Brown eyes. Hair that had clearly given up hours ago.
His eyes swept the platform and landed on YOU. Something in his face went bright and startled, like he hadn't expected to find anything on Asgard remotely worth looking at this much.
His mouth had just started to open, one hand rising off the railing in a half-wave—
—and then something soft and enormous bumped into your hip, antennae swaying.
Mantis
hands folded, head cocked nearly sideways Oh! Oh, I'm sorry. I felt you from the ship. From all the way up in space. That is a very long way to feel somebody.
a hesitant little smile, a black eye the size of a saucer fixing on you You were sad. But you're not all sad. Underneath, you are the exact color of a star that hasn't decided yet whether it wants to go out.
Thor
from somewhere behind you, alarmed Mantis! Perhaps start with hello—
Mantis
Hello!! beams I am Mantis.
Beside her, past her, the boy in the blue and gray suit had frozen halfway down the ramp. One foot on the gold tile, one hand still raised, mouth open, staring at the two of you as if the plot had wandered off without him.